Heat exchanging devices are well known. In general, heat exchanging devices can be categorized into active heat exchanging devices and passive heat exchanging devices. Active heat exchanging devices include heat pumps, which have as a characteristic the requirement for electricity to "pump" heat from one location to another. Examples of active heat exchanging devices are freezers, refrigerators, ice makers, etc.
A characteristic of a passive heat exchanging device is that no external input (e.g., electricity) is required to operate the device. The passive heat exchanging device is configured so that the device is able to absorb heat from a particular heat source, and "exchange" the absorbed heat to a separate object which itself requires warming. By utilizing the "free" heat of the heat source to warm the object, the amount of overall energy to heat the object to a desired temperature is reduced. This in turn leads to a significant cost savings over time.
In the majority of passive heat exchanging device implementations, the source of heat to be absorbed is from heat which is wasted from some other component within the implementation. For example, much of the heat which is "pumped" from refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, etc., mentioned above is utilized to warm a separate object. Many of these passive heat exchanging devices which utilize this wasted heat are quite complicated in their operation.
Heat is also wasted in implementations where waste fluid of a particular implementation is heated. As an example, the waste fluid (water) from a shower installation may act as a heat source for heat exchanging purposes. In a typical shower installation, the waste water which exits the shower is, on the average, approximately 2.5 degrees Celsius (.degree.C.) cooler than the water being output by the shower and used by the shower user. In other words, if a shower outputs water at 39.5.degree. C., the water exiting the shower through a drain is, on the average, 37.0.degree. C. Consequently, the amount of heat that could be generated by a shower drain (for example) may be quite considerable. However, no simple and cost effective means to absorb and exchange this heat is available.
Thus, a need exists for a passive heat exchanging device which absorbs heat from a waste fluid and exchanges the heat to a particular object in a simple and cost effective manner.